Poetry highlights in honor of National Poetry Month!
Poet of the Day: Sarah Kay

Sarah Kay is the founder of Project V.O.I.C.E., an organization working with children and young adults to use poetry to educate, entertain, and inspire. She is the author of four bestselling poetry books and the youngest person to compete in the National Poetry Slam in 2006. 

Kay travels the country and world sharing poems and engaging in writing workshops for students. 

Poems and more information about her can be found on her website: http://kaysarahsera.com/read/ . 
This poet belongs in our classrooms because…
Sarah Kay is a wonderful poet, and an inspiration to young poets and writers. Students resonate and connect to the everyday feel, the less-formal manner, of her spoken word poems. Adding this poet in our classrooms enhances and enlarges students’ definition of poetry.
A Poem by Sarah Kay
The Toothbrush to the Bicycle Tire

They told me that I was meant for the cleaner life;
that you would drag me through the mud.
They said that you would tread all over me,
that they could see right through you,
that you were full of hot air;
that I would always be chasing,
always watching you disappear after sleeker models—
that it would be a vicious cycle.
But I know better. I know about your rough edges
and I have seen your perfect curves.
I will fit into whatever spaces you let me.
If loving you means getting dirty, bring on the grime.
I will leave this porcelain home behind. I’m used to
twice-a-day relationships, but with you I’ll take all the time.
And I know we live in different worlds, and we’re always really busy,
but in my dreams you spin around me so fast, I always wake up dizzy.
So maybe one day you’ll grow tired of the road,
and roll on back to me.
And when I blink my eyes into morning,
your smile will be the only one I see.


Other Selections by this Poet:

Hands (YouTube video)

Jakarta, January (YouTube video)

Poetry books: All Our Wild Wonder, B, No Matter the Wreckage


Classroom Connections
  1. Conduct an informal class discussion on what spoken word poetry is. According to the Poetry Foundation, spoken word poetry is “A broad designation for poetry intended for performance. Though some spoken word poetry may also be published on the page, the genre has its roots in oral traditions and performance. Spoken word can encompass or contain elements of rap, hip-hop, storytelling, theater, and jazz, rock, blues, and folk music. Characterized by rhyme, repetition, improvisation, and word play, spoken word poems frequently refer to issues of social justice, politics, race, and community. Related to slam poetry, spoken word may draw on music, sound, dance, or other kinds of performance to connect with audiences.”
  2. Have students read Sarah Kay's poem "The Toothbrush to the Bicycle Tire" silently. Then ask them to watch an online video of Sarah’s performance of this poem.
  3. Next engage students in discussion to compare/contrast traditional poems to spoken poems, and ask them to talk or write about how the understanding of this poem is enhanced through the visual performance.
  4. For an extension activity, students can create a conversation between two inanimate objects, emulating Kay's poem. If they're ready to take it a step further, add a twist: Instead of creating a love letter, as Kay has done in "The Toothbrush to the Bicycle Tire," have students use theme topics as the main idea. For example, students could write a poem on forgiveness using a book and a sticky note, a poem of apology using a baseball and a window, or find objects of their choosing for a poem that expresses another theme—conflict, loss, gratitude, celebration, etc.
  5. Have students share these poems aloud as spoken word poetry!   

Holly Morningstar Dottarar teaches eighth-grade English at Lakeridge Junior High in Oregon and has taught both middle school and high school for the past sixteen years. Her work has been featured in NCTE’s Voices from the Middle and the Council Chronicle.  Outside her classroom, she enjoys decorating sugar cookies, ( hollybakes.com ), reading YA books, and hiking with her family in the Pacific Northwest.